I'm Just Your Problem
by FluorescentAdolescent3
Summary: Marshall Lee just needed a friend ...


"Cake, I can't do this."

Fionna's bottom lip quivers with apprehension as she stares wide eyed with cerulean orbs at the seemingly colossal brick building that is towering over her like a menacing threat. The blonde feels her insides start to swell, and she has half a mind to turn on her heel and dart into some bushes like a frightened bunny.

But Cake's grip on her knee is too strong, and the over-sized cat lets out a low, exhausted yawn, light pink tongue brushing against the feline's polished pearly whites. "Yes you can. Girl, you'll be fine. It's _only_ high school."

Fionna bites the inside of her cheek and tightens the grip that her slender fingers have on the lime green straps of her book bag. The wind picks up and makes the bangs that spill out of her beloved white rabbit hat fly in frizzy wisps around her heart-shaped face. She shoots Cake a hesitant look.

"But … what if Candy Kingdom gets invaded by zombies again? Or, what if Ice King kidnaps another princess? You can't defeat him on your own."

"Fi, you really have to stop worrying. I'll be fine. Go learn your ABC's or whatever it is they teach here." Cake reassuringly rubs the crease in the back of Fionna's knee and lets out a soft purr. "Go make some friends."

That was the disease that had been haunting Fionna for quite some time now; the big F-bomb. _Friends._

Of course, the young adventuress wasn't completely companionless. She had Cake; her lifelong chum, her adopted sister, her sidekick when the heat was on and the villains were out to play.

But that's where it ended. Cake was all she had, and Goodness forbid something ever happened to the little fluff ball, say an adventure goes haywire and ends in tragedy, who would Fionna have to turn to?

And it's not Fionna's fault that she lacks in social skills, either. Growing up, before her parents passing, their only goal in life was to make Fionna 'a shining star' and 'a model citizen in the land of Ooo'. In doing so, they banned her television, the internet, music that Beethoven didn't compose, and especially 'other children'.

Sometimes, when she had had enough of the overcooked vegetables and piano lessons that her mother and father tried to shove down her throat, Fionna would wander over to the big picture window in her family home's parlor and watch all the little boys and girls run free.

Some days she would envy them and pig-press her face up against the glass of the window, wanting nothing more than to feel the warmth of the sun at her back and the feel of the late summer breeze blowing through her hair.

Other days she would act a little bit too much like her mother, making snide comments under her breath about how dirty the children were for rolling around in the mud like animals and about how horrible their parents must be for letting them do that and avoided them like they were the plague.

Her parents had never let her go to a real school either. Her mother had set up a little makeshift classroom in the basement of their family home, and both of her parents took turns in teaching her the basics, like A B C and 1 2 3. It was the closest she had ever come to a proper education.

"Go on, now. It's almost eight o'clock, you're gonna be late." Cake is now pressing on the back of Fionna's thighs, urging the young girl forward up the polished marble steps of the building. "I'll be here waiting when you get out."

Panic swelling in her chest, knowing well that she can't spend the whole day standing awkwardly in front of the school, Fionna takes three wobbly steps forward, sucking her bottom lip in between her teeth and with a sweaty palm, she waves back at Cake.

The cat gives her a peppy thumbs-up and smiles brightly, fangs glittering in the sunlight. Something in Cake's smile is like a shot of confidence to Fionna's heart, and the blonde swallows her salvia and hugs her arms over her barely developed chest as she ascends up the steps.

She's Fionna the Human, Fionna the Adventuress. She can handle anything.

Or, so she thought.

* * *

><p><em>This is not how her first day at school is supposed to start<em>, Fionna thinks immediately as she pushes herself from off of the ground, her right cheek throbbing with pain. _This is nothing like she imagined it would be._

"Whoa, are you okay?"

Hand clasping the now swollen area where her face smacked the ground, Fionna's sapphire eyes snap up, and she's prepared to answer the question with a sarcastic remark as she normally would with something like _does it look like I'm okay_ or _tell your janitor to use a __**wet floor**__ sign next time._

But the second her eyes lock onto a pair of bright crimson ones, she hitches in an unexpected breath and nearly swallows her tongue.

Standing –no, floating like an angel fresh out of heaven before her was the most radiant sight she had ever seen. First, it was the eyes; a shimmering swirl of red and gold, wide and reflecting her image back at her. Then it was the skin, which was smooth but was an odd tint of greenish blue, but it was the most beautiful color Fionna ever had the pleasure of seeing.

The lips, curled up in amusement, flashing silvery white fangs in her face. The hair is tossed and disheveled, that I-just-got-out-of-bed-and-didn't-bother-to-use-a-brush-cause-I'm-badass-like-that kind of look.

The boy is hovering in mid-air, and he's a vampire, and he's smiling and poor little Fionna the Human is stuck with the stupid deer-caught-in-headlights look on her face.

Around them people off all shapes and sizes and kingdoms are humming around like little insects, but they all seem to recede into the background and all Fionna can see is the strange boy before her.

He's repeating the same question, "Are you okay? That was a pretty nasty fall."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," She says quickly, even though the white hot pain that running through her cheek is screaming otherwise. Fionna's eyes glance downward and she can already feel the thick wave of embarrassment that is creeping up her spine. "I really wish that hadn't happened."

"Let's start over, then." The boy's next word is short and simple, but for some reason, it makes Fionna's pulse quicken. "Hi."

"Uh, hi," She says slowly, tumbling over her words like they're slippery. She doesn't understand why she's getting so worked up, why her heart won't stop knocking against her ribcage like a rabid animal. She can be thrown into a life-or-death situation with nothing but her own bare hands and emerge victorious, but she can't talk to a boy? "I'm Fionna."

"Fionna?" The boy echoes her, his crimson eyes glittering as his lips form the word, and Fionna likes the way he says her name too much for her own good. "That's … cute."

"Erm, t-thanks." She can already feel the rush of heat rising in her cheeks, and she tries her best to hide it by fiddling around with her hands, and she glances this way and that way to try and focus on something else other than the boy with ruby red eyes that is floating in front of her. "You are?"

"Marshall Lee the Vampire King." He says proudly, and then he does a quick loopty loop in the air, his arms and legs expanding, and as nonchalant as he acts about it, the trick makes Fionna's heart bump in her chest. "But you can call me Marshall Lee for short."

The name keeps buzzing in her ear like a pesky little mosquito, and she swats at the air swiftly to try and push it away from her.

_Act cool, Fi. Act cool._

"You're new, aren't you?" Marshall Lee crosses his arms over his chest, and Fionna silently marvels at how muscular they are.

"Um, uh huh. This is my first time-"

She's cut off by and obnoxiously loud bell that pierces through the air like a scream. The other people around them that Fionna had long since forgotten are now scattering about like roaches when you turn the light on, filing into classrooms, slamming lockers.

Marshall Lee briefly glances beyond Fionna's shoulder and then meets her eyes again. "Well, that's my cue." He turns sharply on the heel of his sneaker. "See you around, cupcake."

And then he's gone, the last trace of him disappearing around the corner of the hall, and Fionna can't help but feel like a red, white and blue Fourth of July sparkler is bursting in her stomach.


End file.
